Echocardiogram Cost

How Much Does an Echocardiogram Cost?

An echocardiogram uses ultrasound to look at the heart and can be used for diagnosis and during treatment of various conditions, including congenital heart disease, heart murmurs, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and heart infection.

Typical costs:

For patients covered by health insurance, out-of-pocket cost for an echocardiogram typically consists of a copay or coinsurance of 10%-50%. An echocardiogram typically is covered by insurance when ordered to help diagnose or monitor a heart problem, but not as a routine screening test. For example, United Healthcare[1] covers it for diagnosis and monitoring of a range of heart abnormalities in adults, but does not cover it for screening in the general population, including athletes with no symptoms of heart disease.

For patients not covered by health insurance, an echocardiogram typically costs $1,000-$3,000 or more, including a $200-$300 fee for interpretation by a cardiologist. Costs for a standard (transthoracic) echocardiogram tend to fall in the middle of the range, while costs for a stress echocardiogram, which involves exercising on a treadmill, or a transesophageal echocardiogram, which involves inserting a scope down the throat and through the esophagus to get a better view, tend to be on the higher end. For example, Wooster Community Hospital in Ohio charges about $900, not including the interpretation fee, for a standard echocardiogram. St. Peter's Hospital[2] in Montana charges almost $1,200. Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center[3] in Nebraska charges about $1,400 for a standard echocardiogram and almost $2,000 for a transesophageal echocardiogram, not including interpretation fee. And Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center[4] in New Hampshire charges about $2,200, including professional fees, after a 30% uninsured discount, for a standard echocardiogram. And they charge about $2,800 for a stress echocardiogram.

For a transthoracic echocardiogram -- the most common type -- a technologist places a clear gel on the chest and abdomen and uses a hand-held device called a transducer, which emits sound waves to create images of the heart. The device transmits the images to an echocardiogram machine that creates a moving image of the heart that shows pumping action and structures, including valves and chambers. Later, a cardiologist reviews and interprets the images. The National Institutes of Health offers an overview[5] .

Other types include the stress echocardiogram[6] and the transesophageal echocardiogram[7] .

Additional costs:

If the standard echocardiogram doesn't provide enough information, the doctor might order a follow-up transesophageal echocardiogram.

Discounts:

Some clinics offer imaging and specialist services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers a locator for clinics that provide discounts[8] on an income-based sliding scale.

Many hospitals and imaging centers give discounts of up to 30% or more to uninsured/cash-paying patients. For example, Washington Hospital Healthcare System[9] in California offers a 35% discount. And Raleigh Radiology in North Carolina offers a 40% discount for payment made at the time of service.

Shopping for an echocardiogram:

A family doctor or cardiologist can make a referral to a hospital or imaging center. Or, the American College of Radiology offers a locator by zip code[10] for facilities that are ACR-accredited in ultrasound procedures.

After the procedure, a cardiologist can recommend follow-up treatment or further testing. The American College of Cardiology offers a cardiologist locator by zip code. A cardiologist should be board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine[11] and have further training in cardiovascular disease.

Material on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Always consult your physician or pharmacist regarding medications or medical procedures.

10 Most Popular Cosmetic Procedures Before the HolidaysWith reunions and other get-togethers scheduled during the holiday season, most people want to look their best at this time of year. For some, that means filling in those wrinkles with a bit of botox, or having a nip and tuck down here and there. || Posted November 23 2013

Our pediatrician recommended our two year old daughter have an echocardiogram done. Low and behold, there’s nothing wrong. At all. “procedure” took all of 15 minutes with an ultrasound machine. Insurance was billed $4,800. I have to pay $1,000. Where is this money going? What a scam.

If you have Obama Care it costs thousands.If your un-insured it's under $300.Do your homework, Get an order from your doctor first. Than search for a company that does only imaging. Same thing works for stitches. $150 cash for a doctors visit and 5 stitches or nearly $800 with Obama Care. My deductible is $6,000 so since I never spend more than a few grand a year, I always pay cash.

We have Medicaid for our 7 yo daughter who has subaortic stenosis and we were told two years ago to have it monitored yearly. I had no insurance coverage and so she wasn't seen. She started recently developing chest pain - so I asked her doctor to refer to cardiology . NH Healthy Families ( Medicaid) denied a simple EKG and echo. Medical claims denied ? Seriously unnecessary ? Says who?

I had an Echocardiogram performed at Doylestown Hospital and was billed $850. My 7 year old son had one done a few months later at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and we received a bill for $4,700 – 5 1/2 times more. Both tests were billed as the same procedure (code 93306) and took about the same amount of time (20 minutes). These amounts are “member rates” through Aetna. Both places billed about 2X more. Amazing and infuriating to see such a price discrepancy for the same procedure.During my sons’ evaluation, the cardiologist recommended to get the test. “Mr. Concerned Parent we have a tech on site and you can get it done right now here in our facility – will take less than 1/2 hour.” “Thanks doc.” What parent would sit there and question how much this will cost. Especially since I had the same procedure done and knew what the ballpark price would be. CHOP is a great hospital but this is price gouging. Ironically, the cardiologist only billed $200 for the vist.

45 minutes spent with a tech. Billed for $3548. Down to just under $800 after the insurance limits. The tech is probably getting paid about $50k/year. Oh, and they are incredibly busy, because we had to wait more than 6 months for the appointment!

The scam waged on the patient is the ancillary providers found if they didn't belong to any insurance plans they could bill 100% even though the hospital or clinic is a plan participant. Not only did the oncologist charge me per visit, they charged me for blood test separately, at their office, and additional charges for a shot the next day. I hit all my deductibles the first day, I should have paid nothing. I also contracted MRSA the first day and because they caused additional treatment, my self-funded insurer got $80,000 back for the additional treatment, surgeries and hospitalizations, I lost all my savings and 401k, my job, and eventually my coverage. One cardiologist in Tampa was part of a plan, his brethren explained the benefit on none participation. As a participant he billed and was paid $500,000+ per year. As a non participant he billed Aetna and was paid for the same consults $2.3 Million the next year! The Tampa Bay Times listed it under the title, "Signs of Armmegedon

Our daughter has a bicuspid aortic valve that was detected at 7 months age. She is perfectly healthy and we showed the pedetrician/ cardiologist the report. But our pedetrician insisted we get it evaluated. Well we went after prelim. research thinking that our out of pocket expenses (with high deductible plan) would be within $1000. Lo and behold, the insurance company was billed $5704 for 30 mins transthoradic echocardiograph using 3 codes. My responsibility is $2800. Is this unethical, daylight robbery or what? For a diagnosis we already knew about. The cardiologist interpretation was charged another $594 ( insurance negotiated price is $286) What are my options here?

Went for echo at cardiologist's office. Hadn't met deductible and my BCBS estimate online was $408 done in doctor's office. Well, the cardiology office had been acquired by Mission Hospital so they charged their rate which was ~$1980. My insurance said I was responsible for $1208. Three times the rate and it was actually done inside the cardiologist's office. This has got to be unethical, why do the insurance companies pay at three times the rate for the same procedure? I am a retired physician and can't understand how they justify this.

$1947 was billed to my insurance, ended up being adjusted very slightly. I thought the 20 minute test would be $300 max after looking up my insurance benefits. I won't make that mistake again. Doesn't explain the absurdly high charge still. I know people were charged even more too and this really is robbery and a non transparent system. The machine may be expensive but a 20 min test and probably less than 20 min doctor interpretation does not cost this much.

Insane. Was referred by primary doctor to cardiologist, who was supposed to accept my insurance. Primary doctor was worried about my A-Fib that turned up during routine physical. Today, 2 weeks later, saw claim result online. My insurance pays nothing says out of network. code 93306 for $8,412.65. Now I have heart trouble after seeing amount not paid. So I am sure this will be a long, crazy fight to get the price down. Right now, my heart is ticking on overdrive because of this bill. Obviously, had I know this would have happened, I would have made other plans.

I am a cardiac sonographer and i see soooo many patients getting UNNECESSARY echocardiograms and other tests. Please don't be stupid, question your doctor's, your insurance companies, do some Google research. There are only a few conditions where you need an echo every 6 months. And if you're in the hospital most hospitalists will order echoes just because, mostly there is no reason other than cardiac.

My son was having some issues during gym and feel tightness in his chest. Our family physician felt it would be a good idea to get an echo done. Being 17 and athletic we felt it was a good test to make sure. It was literally less than 30 minutes and I received a bill for $3,722.00 with my portion being $840.80. Since they found he had a bicuspid aortic valve, they suggested everyone in the immediate family get one as well since it's hereditary. Had mine 2 weeks after his so now I know I am looking at yet another $840 bill. If I had known the cost would be so overinflated I would have waited to get mine. To me this is just thievery.

I had no idea that we were going to have to pay this much out of pocket. I looked on our insurance web-site and it was not estimated on there. I had a tread mill stress test along with pictures taken before and after exercise. I was able to put 1/2 down and pay the rest later.

I have an HMO. I was referred to a doctor at UC Denver medical center. I checked to make sure he was under my plan, and he was. My plan paperwork said any tests done while at the doctor's office would be covered. However, I continue to get bills saying they won't cover the costs because they were done at a non-plan facility. I have over $3000 in medical costs I have to pay for one office visit! What good is having insurance? I purposely chose an HMO so I would know my costs up front. I have never had to pay this much in medical bills, even for several days in the hospital as an inpatient. I tried to negotiate a lower price, and they said that I already had been given a discount.

Cardiology group joined Univ. of Louisville physician's group since the last checkup. Bills with codes:Code 0480 (Kosair) echo $2437 after insurance adjustment.CPT 93303-26 (MD office) - $585CPT 93320-26 (MD office) - $410CPT 93325-26 (MD office) $290.***The tricky thing is that the previous year the Echo was done in the MD's office. The MD codes and prices WERE EXACTLY THE SAME!! The ONLY difference is that I did not have to pay the hospital for an echo that was done 1 door down from the MD's office. How is this not fraud?? Someone please explain.

I took my child to see a doctor due to heart pain, he said he would like to do an ultrasound. Thinking that ultrasound costs only a few hundred dollars, I said ok, go ahead. The bill came, it was $5,913.81. The insurance negotiated down to half the cost, so I was on the hook for $2,956.91, paid entirely by me. I've never spent this much without doing any research. If the doctor it was an echocardiagram, I would have asked how much it cost, and research to see if it costs less in another hospital or clinic, before doing the test. And from all the comments here, this is by far THE MOST expensive one listed.

My husband was experiencing heart palpitations and extremely high blood pressure due to stress. My mother-in-law whose been an RN for 40+ years referred him to her cardiologist. He went for 1 visit which resulted in 5 claims on my insurance. We have a high deductible plan so the insurance company made the adjustment to what was billed but we are still on the hook for the remainder. Had my husband known before hand the cost of this Echocardiogram then he would have declined. We've received 4 other bills all in the 180 - 230 range for the same office visit.

My 17 yr old was experiencing exercise intolerance, getting out of breath after swimming. Got a cardiac consult which included about 1.5 hours: transthoracic echo, EKG, MD consult: result: normal and out of shape. Billed insurance about 4000: shock! Insurance adjustment about 2000. Paid 2000 out of pocket, seemed excessive and was not informed of high cost of echo, which took about 20 min. of tech time, then MD interpretation. We did complain and it is pending.**If possible, I think get referral to an imaging center, which will have lower prices.

My portion is $1486.05. This test was performed on son because he could not pass physical for baseball in college. Turns out it was stress and anxiety from beginning college. Pretty expensive to find out what we already knew. I hate our healthcare system. You can never figure out what they are billing you for. I can imagine how much the older folks have paid that they should not have because they do not understand all the jargon. Shameful.

Routine echocardiogram cost was a big surprise. I never dreamed it would be $4209. I received a 20% discount for paying my copay at the time of service. It would have been $631.35. I do not know what my insurance company will pay.

I was with the technician all of 15 minutes. The other 5 was undressing and dressing. This was done at a medical center--NOT a hospital. Just a little clinic. And they billed it as Duke University Hospital Encounter. My portion 562.75. CRAZY!!!! I would have never dreamed it would have been over $600 to begin with.

CostHelper is based in Silicon Valley and provides consumers with unbiased price information about thousands of goods and services. Our writers are experienced journalists who adhere to our strict editorial ethics policy.

CostHelper Community

Power WashingPaid: 280.00Highly recommended.Jerry came and gave a free estimate. They pressure washed my walkway and driveway which is nice size and patio area. Did a fantastic job... [more]

Extraction & Bone graftPaid: 4200.0012 teeth (upper) extracted. Felt pain of every tooth being pulled. Worse Dental experience ever. Had Novocain and Laughing gas. Told dentists I was in pain and she just kept shooting more Novocain into my gums. Told a total of 5 hours... [more]